Bethlehem police requirements changing

Council committee recommends tougher physical, mental tests.

Police candidates in Bethlehem may have to pump a little more iron, run a little faster and pass a reading test to make the force.

The Bethlehem City Council Public Safety Committee recommended Thursday that new physical fitness and reading standards become part of the civil service testing for applicants.

Not that they had a whole lot of options.

"This is one of those state mandates," said committee Chairman Joseph Leeson Jr. "We don't have any choice in the matter."

But not everyone is happy about the new standards that would raise the bar for police applicants.

Police Commissioner Francis Donchez said he's not happy at being handcuffed by the new requirements because they could unnecessarily preclude qualified candidates.

"I could think of a couple officers in our department who came in prior to these regulations and I'm not so sure they would have passed but they're excellent contributing members of our department," Donchez said.

The mandate comes from the state Municipal Police Officer Education and Training Commission and will scrap the existing testing used by the Police Department and add a reading component known as the Nelson-Denny Reading Test.

The new tests establish criteria based on age and gender in a 300-meter run, bench press, sit-ups and a 1.5-mile run. Applicants' reading and comprehension must be at least at the ninth-grade level.

Men 20-29 years old must run 300 meters in under 62.1 seconds, bench press 93 percent of their weight, complete 35 sit-ups in one minute and complete a 1.5 mile run in under 13 minutes, 32 seconds.

Women in the same age group have 75 seconds to run 300 yards, bench 56 percent of their weight, perform 30 sit-ups in a minute and run 1.5 miles in under 15 minutes, 57 seconds.

The new standards would replace the three-pronged test that Donchez said more accurately tests the skills, strength and endurance that more closely represent the duty demands placed on police.

That test includes an obstacle course involving running, balance, agility, wall climbing and weight dragging. There is also a 150-yard dash and a quarter-mile run.

"I think our testing is pretty fair," Donchez said. "You're not going to chase some guy on foot for a mile and a half."

On the reading, Donchez said he doesn't anticipate a problem since one of the department's application requirements is 60 college credits.

He also said that the testing places too much emphasis on the physical qualifications without an equal emphasis on the mental part.

"This is a job where you need to use your mind more than your physical attributes," Donchez said.

Donchez isn't alone in his concern, according to Jean Zweifel, the city's director of Human Services.

"The Civil Service Board has some reservation about it because it has some things like a bench press that females would have to do," Zweifel said. "Their concern is that there are so few female applicants now that it may disqualify those few."